


Only One

by transdannyphantom



Series: Good Enough [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, I'm Sorry, Identity Reveal, Please Forgive me, based off a yellowcard song, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 22:00:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7139195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transdannyphantom/pseuds/transdannyphantom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off "Only One" by Yellowcard. Adrien's pov of "Elastic Heart". Adrien feels betrayed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> Slightly longer angsty one-shot this time, with Adrien's view. Please forgive me. 
> 
> There will probably be more afterwards, but I haven't decided properly. I know at least one more after this, but...

_Broken this fragile thing now_  
_And I can't, I can't pick up the pieces_  
_And I've thrown my words all around_  
_But I can't, I can't give you a reason_

* * *

 

He walked away from her.

 

She trusted him, showed him who she was after four long years, and he walked away from her.

 

It should have been the happiest moment of his life. His Lady wanted him to know her, something he had dreamed of for so long. Since they became partners.

 

He loved her.

 

_So, why did he turn and leave?_

 

He had no answers, and felt disgusted with himself. The pain in her voice when she tried to stop him made his stomach turn to lead every time the memory replayed in his mind. And he left her on a roof in the middle of the night, harsh words and the idea that he resented her, resented _Ladybug,_ echoing in his ears and probably all she thought about. Truth was, he resented himself.

 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Ladybug's real name. He should have seen it sooner.

 

The same hairstyle, those same blue eyes that he filled with tears. Her voice, her laugh, her _smile,_ just like his mothers. He should have known. And now he's ruined it.

 

Angrily, he turned away from the window he had been staring out of for the last hour and a half hoping for a glimpse of the red-clad heroine of Paris. His vibrant green eyes flashed in the darkness of his room, and he ran a pale hand through his blond hair.

 

To say that Adrien Agreste hated himself at that moment was an understatement.

 

“I said all along that I would love whoever was behind the mask, and now I've fucked it all up.”

 

“So you have been saying for the past three months.” His kwami, Plagg, drawled out darkly. It was a conversation the pair had regularly. Plagg has had about enough. “I thought you liked Marinette?”

 

Adrien huffed. “I did-I do. I just, ugh, I feel a little betrayed.”

 

“Imagine how she feels.” Plagg snapped. “I've been listening to you vent and rant and scream your lungs out about how betrayed you are feeling that Marinette is Ladybug, but imagine for one moment how _Marinette_ feels!”

 

Adrien froze, guilt swimming in his veins. Plagg continued, as if he didn't notice what his words had done to his chosen. “She bared her heart and soul to you, allowed you to see what she had hidden for four years, and you snarled at her. A more selfish Chat Noir I have never seen in all my years.”

 

The boy's knees buckled, and he fell, hard, gasping for breath. His right hand clutched at his chest. “Oh, god. I-I really did-oh god!” He was hyperventilating now, guilt sky-rocketing.

* * *

 

 _Made my mistakes, let you down_  
_And I can't, I can't hold on for too long_  
_Ran my whole life in the ground_  
_And I can't, I can't get up when you're gone_

* * *

 

“I need to find her.” Adrien said at last. The last three months replayed in his mind in a loop. How could he have left her like that, and then disappear for so long? Would she even want to see him?

 

Plagg nodded. “About time you're doing something productive.”

 

Adrien's green eyes were wet as he stood shakily. “I love her.”

 

“Tell her, not me.”

 

“Right.” Adrien said, “Plagg, claws out!”

 

The night blurred around him as he ran from rooftop to rooftop, looking for a single sign of his Ladybug. He was growing worried. It was her patrol night, and he hasn't seen hide nor tail of her.

 

“ _You're lying. You can't be her.”_

 

He grimaced, and moved faster. He had to find her.

 

“ _I think it would be best if we took time apart from each other. Do different patrols.”_

 

His steps faltered, but he continued.

 

“ _Chaton, please,”_ She had begged him. His proud and strong Ladybug, had literally begged him not to leave, and he ignored her.

 

He hurt his Lady, his Princess, the _love of his life_.

 

It was dark and late but he had to find her. She had to be out here somewhere. He knew for sure that he wouldn't be welcome in her home if she was there.

 

That was when he heard it. The muffled sniffles coming from a roof they used to visit together, and turned to see the crumpled heap of Marinette sobbing into her hands. He felt like shit for causing this.

 

Softly, he landed on the roof behind her, holding back a curse when he saw her tense.

 

“Chat,” she whispered, and that sound was so broken that Adrien knew he didn't ever want to hear it again. He'd do everything in his power to make sure she wasn't hurt like this by him or anyone in the future.

 

He watched as she wiped her face with her sleeve, something he clearly wasn't meant to see, and pushed to her feet. Her slender shoulders heaved in a great breath, as shaky as it was, and appeared to be gathering the strength to face him. He admired that about her, no matter how sticky the situation, she still held her head high. But he didn't want her to have to fake being strong. Not for him.

 

“Wait,” he said.

 

If not for her trembling, he would had thought she turned to stone. He ached for her.

 

Walking closer, he let his transformation drop, noticing she was shaking harder with every step, until he was right behind her. She had tensed again, her shoulders around her ears. He was on autopilot now, wrapping his arms around her waist. He felt her flinch, hard, when he came in contact, but he kept going until she was secured in his grasp. “I'm sorry, bugaboo, I'm so sorry.”

 

It was as if the dam had finally broken, and she collapsed with a sob against his chest. Gently, so gently, he turned her around and placed her face in the curve of where his neck met his shoulder, and lowered them both until he was resting on his knees and Marinette's weight was against him.

 

“I'm so sorry, my Lady, my princess.” He repeated it like it was a mantra into her shoulder, crying himself over how he treated her. How had hurt her.

 

He felt her tears, her shuddering breaths, and promised to every deity listening that he wouldn't do it again. He would love her as she deserved, like the princess she was.

 

She clung to him, hiccuping as the force of her sobbing died down, one hand tangled in his hair and the other digging tightly into the back of his shirt almost to the point of puncturing through, but he didn't care about his clothes. And he was holding her just as tight.

 

“Princess, open your eyes.”

 

He felt the shake of her head, frantic and fearful. “I-I can't.”

 

“Please.” He was the one begging now, begging her to trust him again.

 

“I'm not strong enough.” The quiet admission sent more guilt through him, and the way her voice broke and cracked through the four words shocked him to the core. “Don't leave me again. I'm-I'm not-”

 

She couldn't continue, he knew, and felt her tears start again against his skin. He pulled her closer, held her tighter, and could feel his own eyes well up and spill over. “Oh, Mari, I'm so sorry.”

 

Her hands tightened where they were, the hand in his hair slightly uncomfortable, but he didn't care. He had hurt her _so much_. He would spend the rest of his life making up for it.

 

They sat there for hours, his legs had long gone numb, but he kept rocking her softly and whispering to her over and over just how sorry he really was, hoping that she would feel just how much he loved her. How much he wanted her forgiveness.

 

He knew, though, as the light of dawn began to wash over them, that they had to pull away, and talk about everything.

 

“Princess,” Adrien whispered. He wanted her to see him. Pulling one arm away from where he had it wrapped around her-had she always been this small?- and lifting it to her chin, he let his long fingers, perfect for the piano, gently grip her, thumb brushing the underside of her bottom lip. He saw the way that moisture clung to her lashes, and two tiny drops formed in the corners. She was perfection.

 

“Can-can I kiss you, Marinette?” Suddenly he was fourteen again, blushing at the drop of a hat, stuttering around the girl he liked.

 

Those tiny drops in the corner of her blue-bell eyes cascaded down her cheeks and into her hair, but she nodded with a small, hopeful smile on her face. “Please.”

 

His heart skipped a beat as he leaned down to press his lips to hers, warm and slightly chapped, but still soft. He had imagined this for so long, staring at her picture on the LadyBlog run by her best friend Alya. It was both everything and nothing like he imagined, all at once. It was like the freedom given to him by the mask of Chat Noir, running over the buildings of Paris chasing after his lovely Lady. And he had finally caught her.

 

She was crying again when he pulled away, and he lightly wiped the tracks with the hand that wasn't holding her chin. “Would you open your eyes now, love?”

 

He held his breath as she slowly, so slowly, allowed her eyes to flutter open, and he was dazzled.

 

She let out the cutest noise, a cross between a laugh and a sob, making him truly smile for the first time since that fateful night. “Hello, princess.”

 

“H-hello, Chaton.”

 

Butterflies flipped in his stomach, and when she lifted a hand to trace his face, like she couldn't believe he was real, he caught her hand at his cheek. It was a cat-like tendency, but he rubbed across it like he was scenting her palm, thumb circling the inside of her wrist. He pressed a soft kiss to her palm.

 

A little ways away, two fairies, one black, one red, sat on the overhang of another roof, looking at their chosen with fond smiles. Plagg was happy that Adrien had gotten his head out of his ass and realized what was right before him all along.

 

 


End file.
